Los Angeles 1993

The resuscitated Los Angeles urban rail system after the opening of the Blue Line on 14 July 1990, its extensions to Long Beach on 1 Sept. 1990 and to 7th St./Metro Center on 15 Feb. 1991 and of the Red Line subway on 30 Jan. 1993.

VIDEOS

Above: YouTube^CA video – Los Angeles Metro Gold, Blue & Expo Line – Length: 7:38 mins.

Above: YouTube^CA video – The Subway in Los Angeles, California 2018 – Length: 9:16 mins.

Above: YouTube^CA video – LA Metro – E Line (Expo) (Pico – Santa Monica) – Length: 43:59 mins.

PHOTOS

MAPS

Los Angeles interurban lrtmap – 1993

INSET: DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES

Los Angeles downtown lrt map – 1993

I created the above maps by overlaying OpenStreetMap (OSM) maps with my own data. Copyright on the OSM maps is © OpenStreetMap contributors, licensed under a CC-BY-SA (Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 licence).

Please note that the OSM maps used as templates for these maps correspond to the situation at the time the maps were downloaded and may show features that did not exist at the time the GS Tram Site is supposed to show. In particular, they may show bridges and highways that were built later.

ROUTES

Operator: Southern California Rapid Transit District (From 1 Feb. 1993: Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro))

Note: The two-character codes used to identify routes below and in the maps are for convenience only, and were not used by the operating company.

LIGHT RAIL ROUTE

Blue Line

7th St. / Metro Center – Flower St. – Washington Blvd. – Long Beach Av. – Willow Brook / Rosa Parks – Compton – Del Amo – Long Beach

SUBWAY ROUTE

Red Line

Union Station - Hill St. - 7th St. / Metro Center - Westlake/MacArthur

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SYSTEM

NETWORK LENGTH

LRT line: 35.4 km.
Purple / Red common line: ca. 5 km.

HISTORY

Horse-drawn streetcars: 1874 - 1896
Cablecars: 1888 - 1896
Electric streetcars (Los Angeles): 1 July 1891 - 1963
Electric streetcars (San Pedro): Jan. 1903 - 23 Jan. 1938
Interurban railways: 1887 - 9 Apr. 1961
Light rail: 14 July 1990 - today.
Subway: 30 Jan. 1993 - today
Funicular: (1st) 31 Dec. 1901 - 18 May 1969; (2nd) 24 Feb. 1996 - today.

GAUGE

Streetcars (Los Angeles Railway; San Pedro streetcars): 1067 mm.
Interurbans (Pacific Electric): 1435 mm.
Light Rail: 1435 mm.
Subway: 1435 mm.
Funicular: 762 mm.

TRAM PRESERVATION

The Orange Empire Railway Museum in Perris, southeast of Riverside, owns and operates a large collection of vintage Pacific Electric and Los Angeles Railway streetcars over 0.8km dual-gauge and 2.4km standard gauge track.

SOURCES

PRINT

"Los Angeles and San Francisco", The Modern Tramway, Nov. 1949 (12: 143), p.221-224.
Simons, V. "LA Light Rail on the move", Tramways & Urban Transit, May 2017 (80: 953), p.172-175.
Simons, V. "Los Angeles: Gone but not forgotten", Tramways & Urban Transit, Feb. 2010 (73: 866), p.76-77.
Simons, V. "Los Angeles: Light rail to the Beach - and beyond", Tramways & Urban Transit, Aug. 2016 (79: 944), p.295-300.
Simons, V. "Los Angeles - The transformation continues", Tramways & Urban Transit, Dec. 2023 (86: 1032), p.468-470.
Simons, V. "Los Angeles transformation", Tramways & Urban Transit, Dec. 2009 (72: 864), p.460-463.
Simons, V. "Update from Los Angeles", Tramways & Urban Transit, May 2013 (76: 905), p.175.
Skelsey, G. "Hill Street Blues" [The Pacific Electric Railway (PE)], Modern Tramway & Light Rail Transit, Aug. 1988 (51: 608), p.263-269.
Smith, G.E. "Los Angeles - The S route", The Modern Tramway, Oct. 1961 (24: 286), p.295-298.
Veysey, L.R. A history of the rail passenger service operated by the Pacific Electric Railway Company since 1911 and by its successors since 1953 Los Angeles: Interurbans, 1958.
Walker, J. Images of Rail: Pacific Electric red cars. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2006.
Wansbeek, C.J. "Los Angeles - Megacity needs more light rail", Tramways & Urban Transit, May 2007 (70: 833), p.172-176.
Wansbeek, C.J. "Los Angeles - New light rail line brings gold to Pasadena", Tramways & Urban Transit, June 2007 (70: 834), p.217-219.
Wansbeek, C.J. "Los Angeles - Metrolink: Successful urban rail", Tramways & Urban Transit, July 2007 (70: 835), p.258-261.

WIKIS

WEB SITES

Disclaimer: Everything on this site was written and/or prepared at the author's discretion. The author has tried to be accurate where facts are presented, but this does not mean that these facts are necessarily accurate. People needing more reliable information should refer to appropriate sources presented, on the Internet or elsewhere, by authoritative professional or academic bodies.

To get in touch with the webmaster, send an e-mail to g_sandi at hotmail.com.

Flags on this site are from the FOTW Flags Of The World website.

LOS ANGELES

CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES

30 Jan. 1993